In a week in which Silicon Valley is the focus of intense news coverage, the White House that promised the “most open administration in history” has made an unusual move — barring local reporters from covering a pair of high priced presidential fundraisers in the tech region Sunday.
The President will star at two big Silicon Valley fundraisers Sunday, attending a $38,500 per person dinner at the Atherton home of COO Sheryl Sandberg, and starring at $2,500 and up fundraiser starring Bruce Hornsby at the Woodside home of Sandi and John Thompson.

But in a rare move — and a departure from the President’s previous trips to California — local media have been informed that the White House will not allow any of their representatives to act as a “pool” reporter and file reports from those events.Peter Scheer, who heads the First Amendment Coalition, said that “it’s their party and they can design that party list the way they want — but it shows, in my judgement, poor judgement for them to exclude the press. What goes on in a meeting where people pay this much to see the president is not trivial.” And by barring local reporters specifically, he adds, that means the journalists most likely to know personalities — and donors — present will be outside the doors.

“The public is more likely to get a full report of what transpires if there at least some journalists there who recognize and even know the people who have paid to get in,’’ he said. The donors are “not just ordinary citizens,” but CEOs and Silicon Valley insiders who have been given access to the president with their checks.
The move to restrict press access comes as the White House is facing intense political pressure because of Solyndra, the Fremont-based solar firm that received a $535 million government loan guarantee and went belly up last month. The firm’s executives on Friday refused to answer Congressional inquiries on the matter, citing their Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

White House officials would not respond to requests for comment on the matter this morning.

California media watchers and political experts say the White House does control press coverage at such events, but it’s decision is head-scratching at best — especially considering its own promises of transparency.
“It’s not unprecedented… plenty of politicians of both parties have kept the media out of fundraising events,’’ said USC’s Dan Schnur, who directs the Jesse Unruh Institute of Politics there. “But it isn’t a good signal from a White House that promised “the most open administration in history.”
UC Berkeley senior lecturer Susan Rasky, who teaches politics, press and government, said that “all White Houses think they can control stories by denying access to the press.”
“And that is never true,” she said. “They don’t end up controlling it. It never works. It’s petty and irritating.”
Carmen Balber, the Washington director of Consumer Watchdog, said that her organization has been “expressing concern about the president (meeting with) the CEOs of companies that are under investigation by the Dept. of Justice,’’ a reference to Google’s top executive Eric Schmidt, who has also been a major donor to Democratic causes. “We don’t think it’s appropriate.”
But with the latest move by the White House, she said, the question now “what is the president doing behind closed doors that he doesn’t want the public to see?”